Grey Eagle favorite and Mississippi hill country blues icon R.L. Burnside died September 1st at St. Francis Hospital in Memphis at the age of 78. Burnside, who redefined the blues genre by incorporating indie rock acts and hip-hop production, was born November 21, 1926, in Harmontown, Mississippi, and spent most of his life in the north Mississippi hill country, where he worked as a sharecropper and a commercial fisherman and played guitar at weekend house parties. In 1968, noted folklorist George Mitchell recorded Burnside for the first time. In 1991 Burnside was the first artist signed to then-fledgling Fat Possum Records in Oxford, Mississippi. His debut, "Too Bad Jim," was produced by former New York Times pop critic Robert Palmer. Along with his friend, neighbor, and label-mate Junior Kimbrough, Burnside was one of the most popular and important blues musicians to emerge in the last two decades. He recorded the crossover collaboration "A Ass Pocket of Whiskey" with the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion in 1996 and became a cult hero. In 1998, music from "Come On In" was featured in several movies and television shows, including The Sopranos. Burnside sold hundreds of thousands of records in his lifetime.
He is survived by his wife Alice Mae, twelve children, and numerous grandchildren.
Also, weakened by lung cancer and heart disease and devastated by the destruction of his beloved New Orleans, Grey Eagle favorite and grammy award-winner Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown passed away on Saturday. He was 81.
Mr. Brown died at his brother's home in Orange, Texas, where he had gone to escape the hurricane. His home in Slidell, La., just outside New Orleans, was destroyed by Katrina, said Rick Cady, his agent. He was completely devastated," Cady said. "... He evacuated successfully before the hurricane hit, but I'm sure it weighed heavily on his soul."
A musician of gritty versatility, Mr. Brown was, to his frustration, often identified as a blues master. "I'm a musician, not some dirty, lowdown bluesman," Mr. Brown once said, noting that he could play drums, harmonica, fiddle, mandolin and viola. He easily adapted to rhythm-and-blues, swing and Cajun styles, and for years he enjoyed dressing in full cowboy gear to perform country music.
Mr. Brown was born April 18, 1924, in Vinton, La., near the Louisiana-Texas border. He was raised in nearby Orange, Texas, where his father was a railroad worker and weekend banjoist and fiddler in Cajun, country and bluegrass bands. He started playing fiddle by age 5. At 10, he taught himself an odd guitar picking style he used all his life, dragging his long, bony fingers over the strings. In his teens, he toured as a drummer with swing bands and was nicknamed "Gatemouth" after a teacher said his voice sounded like a swinging gate.
Starting in 1947, Mr. Brown recorded such staples as "Okie Dokie Stomp," "Ain't That Dandy" and "Just Before Dawn."
At home in Slidell, Mr. Brown was a spry figure who liked sporting his sheriff's badge and holstered .38-caliber Smith & Wesson. He is survived by three daughters, a son and his brother.
We are proud to have been associated with each of these men, and join the musical community in mourning their passing.
